


Light In The Dark

by bluepulsebluepulse



Category: DCU (Comics), Teen Titans (Animated Series), Teen Titans (Comics), Young Justice (Cartoon), Young Justice (Comics), Young Justice - All Media Types
Genre: Bluepulse, Crossover I've been waiting a long time to do, M/M, Speedbuggy
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-08-31
Updated: 2019-08-31
Packaged: 2020-10-04 05:28:43
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 5
Words: 7,045
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20465780
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/bluepulsebluepulse/pseuds/bluepulsebluepulse
Summary: WARNING: There is some low key descriptive violence in this fic so please don't read if you get squirmish. I mean it's not even that bad imo but I get paranoid people will get upset.





	1. A Forewarning

**Author's Note:**

  * For [PaintingWithDarkness](https://archiveofourown.org/users/PaintingWithDarkness/gifts).

> I made this for someone who wanted something angsty, I was going to make it hella dark but I'm weak. So this is about as dark as I could go. Sorry in advance. Hope you still like it anyway! Also to all of yous who read this, feel free to comment.

“Jaime Reyes wake up.” Khaji Da’s monotone voice cut through the darkness causing Jaime to wake.

“What is-?” Jaime began to groggily inquire when he noticed all on his own.

“Bart!” Jaime urged shaking him.

Bart woke up immediately gasping for air. He panted as he caught his breath. Jaime laid a hand on his back to comfort him and felt the sweat from Bart’s back transfer over to his hand. It wasn’t a pleasant sensation but Jaime ignored it.

“Bart what’s wrong?” Jaime asked trying to make eye contact with the speedster who refused to meet his eye.

“I just had another nightmare. I should go back home. Thanks for letting me stay here.” Bart said quickly before dashing off.

Jaime tried to call out after him but it was useless. Jaime had invited Bart over to spend the night as he frequently did. He loved having his best friend over, and if he was being honest with himself, he had this unexplainable attraction towards Bart. He wouldn’t use the work ‘attraction’ in his mind, he preferred the word ‘fascination’. 

Jaime had been trying to spend more and more time with Bart as of late. Especially in ways that brought them closer together. It was like he was trying to achieve something, something that felt sinful and yet so right. He wasn’t quite sure of what he was trying to accomplish with Bart. Khaji Da knew what it was that Jaime wanted deep down. But Jaime had been repressing his feelings and desires for a while now and any attempt to bring them to Jaime’s immediate attention could cause Jaime emotional turbulence so Khaji Da decided to keep quiet.

“Khaji Da, I don’t like this at all. Do you know what is wrong with Bart?” Jaime asked frowning.

_ “Just as the Bart Allen explained, he was having a nightmare. The use of the word ‘another’ suggests this is a recurring issue.”  _ Khaji Da explained.

“What can I do to help?” Jaime asked.

_ “I don’t believe there is anything you can do Jaime Reyes. The Bart Allen would need to seek help from a mental health professional. Recommended person: Miss Martian.” _ Khaji Da helpfully advised.

“That’s actually… not a bad idea. I’ll talk to him tomorrow.” Jaime concluded.

Jaime laid down and tossed and turned feeling guilty for letting Bart go home alone. He eventually fell asleep.

The next day Jaime approached M’Gann at the Watchtower. Jaime was surprised to see a lot of magic users on site. Jaime even spotted Dr Fate which was a rare occurrence these days.

“Uhh hey, M’gann. Could I please talk to you for a minute?” Jaime asked cryptically.

“Sure!” the Martian tried to sound friendly but there was an underlying level of unease in her tone that seemed unrelated.

The Martian guided Jaime into a private room where they could speak alone.

“What can I help with you Jaime?” she asked.

“It’s Bart. He keeps having nightmares, I was hoping you could help.”

“I can talk to Bart if you want but ultimately he needs to decide whether he wants my help or not-” Miss Martian began before a knock at the door interrupted her statement.

Conner leaned in through the door quickly to say two words, “She’s here.”, before retreating his head out of the room and closing the door again.

M’Gann sighed, “Sorry about that. I need to go. But I’ll talk to Bart when I see him next alright.”, she smiled hoping to put Jaime at ease and to apologise for her abrupt exit.

“Thanks.” he said meekly. He was worried how Bart would react to Jaime having told M’Gann about his nightmares.

When Jaime left the room himself after a few minutes of mulling he noticed everyone huddled around some girl. He had never seen her before. She was having a conversation with Dr Fate and Zatanna. Both of them seemed concerned by whatever she was saying. She was clearly a magic user. In fact, the second Jaime exited the room she made eye contact with him as if she could sense his presence long before Jaime even knew she was even in the building let alone tracking him.

Jaime maintained eye contact with her for a few seconds until Khaji Da broke his concentration by declaring her an imminent threat.

Jaime decided to go let Bart know he had spoken to M’Gann. He didn’t want it coming as a surprise to Bart. Jaime entered the zeta tube and beamed to Central City in the hopes of finding Bart at home.

“Hola Iris! Is Bart home?” Jaime asked with a weary smile.

“Should be. Come on in!” Iris gestured inwards.

Jaime walked up to Bart’s bedroom and knocked. The door swung open before his knuckles had left the wooden door.

“Oh! Hey Blue! What brings you here?” Bart asked with an overcompensating smile.

Jaime noted Bart was clearly in denial and did not want to talk about last night.

“I wanted to see if you were okay? And also warn you about something.” Jaime fidgeted nervously.

“I’m fine. And warn me about what?” Bart tilted his head as he slid on his second running boot.

“Wait, are you going somewhere?” Jaime asked.

“Yeh. Gramps just told me Nightwing is about to call an urgent team meeting with everyone.” Bart informed with a grin knowing he got intel before the rest of the team due to Barry’s close ties with Batman.

“Oh. Well. I still wanted to let you know something.” Jaime rubbed the back of his neck as if it could prepare him for Bart’s anger to the news, “I told M’Gann about your nightmares. I thought she might be able to help.” Jaime looked down at his shoes out of guilt.

“What? Jaime? Why would you tell her that?” Bart groaned out of frustration before taking a deep breath, “Look I know you’re trying to help but I’m fine okay. I’m just having a few bad dreams. Ones that I don’t care to share, especially with M’Gann.” Bart emphasized on the sharing part.

“Well… I’m sorry ese. I just didn’t know what to do.” Jaime admitted.

“It’s all crash. Just forget about it. Let’s head over to the Watchtower!” Bart put on one of his classic smiles.

The smile did make Jaime feel better but he wasn’t a fool. He knew this was far from over and that Bart was going to keep avoiding the issue. He was too selfless. He didn’t like bothering others when it came to his personal problems. Most people didn’t know that about Bart. Given the act he put on when he first arrived in their timeline and the constant scavenging of other people’s food, most of the team assumed Bart was selfish. 

But once you got to know the real Bart as Jaime had, he learned that Bart was a really sweet guy. A mature, sensible, cheeky but very caring guy. Bart had slowly revealed more of his true self to the rest of the team as time went by but it was only with Jaime that Bart ever let all his defenses down to be his true self. It felt like an act of openness and honesty that made Jaime feel special. Not to mention that Bart gave Jaime more hugs than everyone else.

However Bart’s unwillingness to talk about these nightmares were a rude shock to that warmth Jaime felt in their friendship. They were best friends. And now it suddenly felt like Bart was pushing him away. And he couldn’t understand what was causing Bart to push him away. He almost felt like an Outsider. Literally. As if he was one of the other team members of which Bart was not sharing his true self with.


	2. A Diamond Is Not This Girls Best Friend

“Listen up everyone I have some serious news!” Nightwing yelled authoritatively to successfully kill all the conversations in action amongst all the heroes, “This is Raven.”, Nightwing gestured to the quiet girl who stood beside him with a stern expression. “She has come to warn us that her father Trigon, who is essentially Satan himself, is coming to Earth to enslave it. There have been demon attacks all over the world and she has liaised with Dr Fate and Zatanna and other magic users to contain them. However, we are facing a prophecy. She believes it will happen regardless of what we do. This is apparently much bigger than all of us and it could take every single one of us to take him down.”

Batman stepped forward, “This is a serious threat. Potentially the biggest one we have ever faced. Bigger than Vandal Savage or Darkseid. We need all of you to make yourselves fully available until further notice. None of you are to go home until this is resolved.”

Dr Fate spoke up, “While we wait for the prophecy to take place, we are going to deploy squads to help keep the demons under control as they are growing in quantity. Each team will be placed with at least one magic user who can locate the demons. To destroy a demon, you need to injure it repetitively until it can’t regenerate anymore. Feel no remorse for killing these entities. They are not living creatures. They are already dead. They have no soul and can’t feel anything. If they tell you otherwise, they are lying.”

Most of the younger members showed looks of concern. There was a very serious atmosphere in the room. In fact, Jaime could almost smell the fear. Nobody wanted to kill demons, but they had no choice. The demons were going to harm innocent civilians and as Dr Fate pointed out, you can’t technically kill them anyway.

Nightwing started reading out names for the groups and their assigned magic users. The Outsiders were together and were placed with Raven. Dr Fate also joined the group as Raven needed more protection than anybody right now and he was one of the League’s most powerful and experienced magic users.

The Outsiders regrouped, with Raven and Dr Fate. It felt impersonal, but clearly the situation was dire because Raven and Dr Fate immediately got to work using a charm to locate the nearest demons. The group was expecting an introduction to Raven or for her to say something but all she did was press her fingers to her temples as her eyes glowed a freakish white before speaking her first words to them, “I’ve located some demons, they are located not far from here.”

Without any warning she held her hands out in front of her as fists and black circles encompassed them highlighting the inner features as white. The bubbles around her hands expanded until it created one big bubble that contained all of them and they all seeped into the ground emerging from pure darkness in a park.

“Woah…” Static mumbled.

Khaji Da chirped and told Jaime he had detested the experience and still did not trust Raven.

Raven looked at Jaime, she had heard what Khaji Da had said. She offered a look of apology but Jaime was too freaked out by the fact she clearly heard Khaji Da somehow in his mind.

“So where are they?” Wondergirl asked.

And as if she had jinxed them, they rose up from the ground and began attacking immediately.

“Azarath Metrion Zinthos!” Raven yelled quickly forming a bubble that dragged them out of their physical presence and kept them outside.

“What do we do?” Wondergirl asked as she watched the demons begin projecting blasts of red energy at the black bubble.

“I am going to try my best to take care of them myself. I don’t want you to have to kill these demons if necessary. It’s a hard line to cross for some people.” Raven admitted.

She clenched her jaw as she felt her bubble weakening.

“Just injure them as much as possible.” Raven grunted.

She released the bubble moments later and wasted no time attacking. Her hands glowed as she dispersed blasts of black energy from her hands knocking all of the demons to their feet momentarily. The rest of the group got to attacking as well.

Wondergirl started by punching them so hard they were tossed around like rag dolls. Static electrocuted them. Beast Boy also used his animal forms to seriously injure them. Jaime used a sonic canon. Bart punched them or baited them into following him where other members were able to get the drop on them. In fact, all of the Outsiders were holding back and were using methods that would only injure real people but not kill them. Dr Fate and Raven however were clearly okay with using techniques that would easily kill real people. Both of them were dismembering the demons with their magics and honestly it was quite horrific for the Outsiders to watch. But the demons kept rehealing and attacking. It took awhile but they were able to wear down all the demons until they faded into red particles.

Raven pulled the head of her cloak off. The team was mostly shocked by the purple hair that they didn’t even hear what she had said. They were also all mesmerised by a red gem stone on her forehead.

Moments later the stone began glowing. Raven clutched at her head with both hands and fell to her knees.

“Raven what’s wrong?” Dr Fate asked concern apparent in his tone.

He had to wait until the gem stopped glowing before she could respond.

“It was my father, he is telling me to release him now.” Raven informed.

“Release him?” Wondergirl inquired.

“He is trapped inside the gem.” Raven explained.

“Woah.” the team murmured.

The group wondered if they had gotten unlucky being placed with the girl who held the world’s most powerful source of evil. Undoubtedly they would be the first to face his wrath when he escaped.

“I was trying to say that there is a lot more where that came from.” Raven said through gritted teeth.

Suddenly a hand rose up out of the ground grabbing Bart’s foot.

“Oh my god!” Bart shrieked as he shook his foot vigorously setting himself free.

The stray demon rose up and lunged at Dr Fate who was forced to use a very powerful spell to incinerate it in one go. His armor fired a rainbow pulse out the emblem on his chest. It was a spell he only ever used in emergencies.

“If you could do that, why didn’t you do that to all of them earlier?” Static asked.

“It’s a very powerful spell, my magics are now under strain.” Dr Fate said annoyedly.

“The demon was probably trying to kill you since you’re the best person to be protecting me.” Raven explained guiltily.

Dr Fate received an incoming transmission.

“Batman wants us to reconvene in Egypt. Their squad has just encountered a large number of demons and they need help.” Dr Fate explained creating a cross shaped portal while he explained, “Follow me.”

The group followed with baited breath not sure of what to expect on the other side of that portal.


	3. Unleashing Hell

There were demons everywhere. They were swarming around a giant platform protruding out the ground. As soon as Raven walked out of the portal, it was like every demon turned her way which sent chills down the Outsider’s collective spines as there thousands of demons.

Raven’s eyes lit up with fear as she hadn’t been expecting such a sheer quantity of demons. Many of them started heading her way. She swallowed and quickly created a force-field around her team. There were demons covering every inch of the bubble.

“Dr Fate!” she begged as she fell to her knees clearly straining to keep the bubble in operation.

Dr Fate said some words in another language and shot an energy beam at Raven’s bubble which electrocuted all of them demons who were touching it. This allowed the group to actually see the sky again even if momentarily as they healed and began attacking the bubble again.

“The Justice League are barely holding their own shield. Rocket and Zatanna are struggling to remain in control. The other teams are about to lose their defenses too.” Dr Fate informed from his comm link.

“What do we do?” Tim asked as he contacted Batman with his comm’ link which shocked everyone since he was always had a plan.

Jaime looked over at Bart to see he was genuinely worried.

All the fear and emotions of others were overwhelming Raven. She was struggling to think clearly.

“Enough!” she yelled as her eyes began glowing red, “As the daughter of Trigon, I order you to stop!”

All the demons slackened their postures and remained completely still. Everyone breathed a sigh of relief that she had stopped the,.

“The prophecy shall be fulfilled.” Raven said sounding truly brokenhearted.

“Raven! Stop! You can’t do this!” Fate yelled.

“If I don’t, these demons will continue coming and they will kill every single one of you. I can’t be responsible for all of your deaths.” she explained softly.

“Raven please! Don’t do this!” Zatanna called out.

“I don’t have a choice.” she started walking towards the centre of the platform sticking out of the ground.

Everyone watched in horror and remained completely still as she approached the middle.

Dr Fate suddenly lunged towards Raven to try and stop her and she created a force-field around him to stop him in his tracks.

“I’m sorry, I can’t let you stop me.” Raven said sadly.

The Outsiders watched in sheer shock, they all underestimated Raven’s power. She was able to single handedly contain Dr Fate, as if it were flicking a bug off her shoulder.

Dr Fate bashed at the bubble but it wouldn’t break. Unbeknownst to everyone else, Trigon was channeling more of his power to her to allow her to keep Dr Fate contained. Ordinarily, Raven’s level of power alone wouldn’t have contained him for long. But she wasn’t alone.

She took the gem off her head and placed it in a groove in the floor in the dead center of the platform.

“The gem was born of evil’s fire. The gem shall be his portal. He comes to claim. He comes to sire. The end of all things mortal!” Raven yelled as the gem burst in a colorful red explosion causing the ground to crack and fall open below it.

Raven collapsed and began falling into the ground however Superman was quick to swoop in and pick her up and fly her to safety. Then all of the demons that had remained completely still began fading into red particles. All the particles began forming a monstrous figure. It was huge. The mass kept growing until it was the size of the Daily Planet. And then it solidified revealing Trigon himself.

He let out a breath he had been holding for many years and cracked his neck around.

“The Earth is mine!” he declared with a booming voice.

“Attack!” Superman yelled causing everyone to lunge into action. Most people weren’t even sure of what to do when they reached him.

Superman flew upwards to punch Trigon in the face. Trigon turned his head a little and laughed.

“Is that all you’ve got?” he mocked.

Superman’s eyes widened with the unexpected lack of effect his punch had had on the demon.

“I need a few recruits to help me take over Earth. You would do just fine.” Trigon observed.

And without warning, Trigon pointed at the Kryptonian and send a lightning fast red bolt at him. He grunted in agony before turning around eerily in mid air to look onwards at everyone below him. Everybody gasped when they noticed his eyes were glowing red.

Raven flew up at Trigon, “Let him go. You don’t need to possess these Earthlings! I will give you anything you want, just leave!” she begged.

Trigon considered the offer for a moment before declining. He sent red bolts from his eyes and she formed a shield that did protect her from the rays but the sheer force of the energy sent her crashing into the ground. She appeared unconscious as the bubble around her flickered like a dying light bulb.

Wonderwoman was next to attempt to attack before he swatted her away with his hand sending her flying out of view.

“Who else would be suitable?” he eyed the crowd for a moment, “You.”

“Everyone retreat!” Batman yelled. He knew fighting would be futile as they could not defeat him and the best chance they had was not allowing Trigon to take over their powers. It would only allow him to conquer the Earth faster.

Trigon pointed at Martian Manhunter before firing a bolt at him. He was able to density shift so it went through him. He started to retreat per Batman’s orders when Trigon raised his hand and causing a ring of demons to emerge from the ground in a ring around everyone still on the ground to keep them from escaping.

Trigon seemed determined to get Martian Manhunter until he spotted someone else.

Trigon hummed in approval. “Blue Beetle. I admired your work in the Reach apocalypse. You are a perfect candidate.”

Trigon pointed and fire the bolt at Jaime.

“No!” Bart screamed using all his speed to jump in front of the bolt and let it strike him instead.

He also shouted in agony as the spell possessed him.

Jaime took a moment to comprehend what had happened. Once he had, all he said was, “Bart…”. He had said it so tenderly not knowing whether he had lost Bart for good or not. He said it as if Bart had died on the spot. The raw emotion in his tone was enough to break anyone’s heart.

Bart, in a similar fashion to Superman turned around slowly with eyes glowing dark red. A red that looked like his soul had been murdered from the inside and his eyes were the glass container in which the crime had occurred.

The sight made Jaime sick to his stomach.

“Bart! Are you in there? Can you hear me?” Jaime begged.

There was no response from Bart. He just stood there. Trigon laughed before continuing to blast at other potential candidates not really caring about Blue Beetle anymore.

It was pure chaos around Jaime. The demons were running rampid trying to contain the superheroes that were trying to flee. But Jaime was standing still himself. He was the only one who wasn’t moving, apart from all the other superheroes that had been possessed.

He inhaled a shaky breath before striding up to Bart against his better judgement and Khaji Da’s extreme disagreeance to the idea.

Jaime put a hand on each of Bart’s shoulders. Jaime shook him. Jaime pleaded with him. There was absolutely no response. It was even harder trying to maintain eye contact with him given his eyes were soulless and a disturbing shade of red.

“That’s enough recruiting for one day.” Trigon bellowed as he saved his hand causing him and all those under his control to disappear in a flash of red light.

“No!” Jaime screamed as he held onto Bart’s limp hand only for his own hand to fall when there was nothing left of Bart to hold.

It hadn’t really hit Jaime until then that he had lost Bart. Bart had sacrificed himself to save Jaime. Likely because Bart didn’t want Jaime to have to live under someone else’s mind control again knowing how traumatic it had been for him being on mode and being made to say and do reprehensible things. Bart had made the ultimate sacrifice to save Jaime from reliving his traumatic past.

Jaime slammed his fist into the ground. He was so angry that he allowed this to happen. He started crying aggressively. He was supposed to protect Bart, like Bart had done for him. Now Bart was going to be pried from his innocence no doubt and be forced to do horrible things with no control over his body. Bart would no doubt come back a broken soul.

“Bart!” Jaime sobbed smashing his fist into the ground repetitively.

“I’m sorry…” Raven said standing a meter away from Jaime.

“Raven! You can help me get him back right! You can help us save them all?” Jaime looked up through glassy eyes.

“I can try, but it won’t be easy.” Raven chose her words carefully so as to not commit to a promise she knew she couldn’t keep.

“Please! I will help you every step of the way!” Jaime offered.

“You are going to regret that…” Raven pointed out.

“I don’t care, I need to save Bart.” Jaime sounded so confident Raven raised an eyebrow, “Just tell me what you need me to do and I’ll do it.”


	4. The Return

It had been a few weeks where none of the remaining members had seen any sign of Trigon or any of the team members he had possessed. Raven had explained he was likely taking over other planets and amassing more resources so that he could finish off Earth more easily. It had given the remaining members time to plan an assault and collect their own resources. It mostly involved collecting magical relics for Raven to create another stone to entomb her father in.

“So we all know the plan when he returns?” Raven asked before receiving nods from everyone in attendance. 

She dismissed them all so they could go to sleep. Jaime was having trouble sleeping while he waited for his chance to see Bart again. Raven walked in to Jaime’s tent. They were all camping out in Egypt near the portal as Raven said he would have to return through that same spot on Earth if he did return.

“I am really sorry about… him.” Raven said as she entered Jaime’s tent.

“It’s not your fault.” Jaime assured her.

“I can tell you loved him.” she said softly.

It finally hit him. He loved Bart. That’s what he wanted from Bart all along. To be with him. It felt wrong because of how his community felt about same sex relationships which made it feel so wrong but it felt so right. He knew he wanted to be in a relationship with Bart regardless of what others thought. He didn’t care anymore. Jaime looked up broken, “Yeh… I did. Do.”, he shook his head at the misuse of pronoun, “I never got to tell him either.”

“I’m sure you will be able to tell him someday.” Raven soothed.

“We didn’t even leave on good terms.” Jaime slumped his shoulders, “He was having nightmares.”

“Nightmares?” Raven asked curiously, “They were probably flashes of what were coming his way. Dark magic works in strange ways.”

Jaime started to tear up again imagining what horrors Bart was forced to live through in his dream that he was likely being forced to live through right now.

“I also know about the scarab, and how it talks to you. I can relate. That gem that used to be on my forehead, my father talked to me from it.” Raven offered a half smile.

“Really? Satan himself talking to you in your mind. That must have sucked.” Jaime also showed the slightest bit of a smile, the closest he had come to smiling since Bart had left.

“Believe me it does.” she sassed.

Her eyes began glowing suddenly.

“Jaime! He’s ba-” Raven began shouting before she was inaudible over the loud sound of a portal opening.

Jaime and Raven ran out of the tent to see Trigon approaching with all his minions. Jaime desperately scanned for any sign of Bart and couldn’t see him anywhere.

Jaime and Raven didn’t even need to tell their troops to act, they all immediately ran towards Trigon and his minions. Raven had a plan to exercise the demons out of the possessed superheroes however it took time to do and she needed cover. Superman was one example of someone she couldn’t get close to if she tried so she tasked Wonderwoman with taking on the man of steel. She managed to stab Superman with the Kryptonite Tim had given her. She apologized as she did it and she watched as a black fog evaporated out of his mouth and his eyes returned to normal.

“She did it!” Jaime exclaimed happily, “Khaji Da! Where’s Bart?”

_ “He is on the ground to your right.” _ Khaji Da informed.

Jaime spotted him immediately. He attempted to fly to Bart when a possessed Hal Jordan intercepted his path. Jaime looked over to see where Raven was and she was currently unpossessing Green Arrow. Jaime smiled as he watched her free him and it provided him with the motivation he needed to fight harder.

“Where do you think you’re going?” Hal asked.

“Khaji!” Jaime yelled, prompting the scarab to form a giant canon that sent Hal right out of the sky upon firing.

Jaime continued his pursuit of Bart having to fight through several possessed Leaguer’s to eventually get to him. It was pure chaos as everyone fought around him.

He landed forcefully in front of Bart. Who grinned evilly.

“I’m going to save you Bart.” Jaime said.

“I don’t want to be saved.” Bart grinned.

“This isn’t you.” Jaime said to assure himself.

“Yes it is!” Bart grinned taking one slow step forward at a time as he hurled a number of insults, “I hate you. I don’t need you. I’m better off without you. You couldn’t even save me.”

Jaime gritted his teeth. He knew it was the demon talking but it cut deep.

“Well I am going to do whatever it takes to fix my mistake!” and with that Jaime lunged at Bart and obviously missed as he side stepped with ease knocking Jaime down to the ground with one swift blow.

Bart straddled him on the ground, “You’re pathetic! And now… I’m going to kill you.”

Jaime started to yell out for Raven’s help when he could no longer speak. He was in too much pain as he felt Bart’s hand phasing in and out of his chest at the speed of light. Jaime’s head jerked upwards sharply at the sheer pain it caused him as he let out a noise of pain.

And Jaime was sure he was going to die until he looked up to see Bart’s red eyes flickering.

“Jaime!” Bart cried before his eyes returned to red.

“Fight it Bart! You can do it!” Jaime said through gritted teeth since he was still in incomprehensible pain.

Bart gritted his teeth and visibly struggled for control, “GAH!” he screamed in frustration as he finally won over forcing the demon out of his body.

“Oh my god!” Bart screamed as he realized his hand was still vibrating in Jaime’s chest about to kill him. He jerked his hand back immediately like he was the most dangerous thing in the world to the one he cared about most. He stopped vibrating and returned to normal.

“Jaime.” Bart said tears streaming down his face, “I couldn’t help it. I’m so sorry. I didn’t mean anything I said. I didn’t mean to almost kill you.” Bart sounded so remorseful it broke Jaime’s heart.

“It’s okay!” Jaime said wasting no time to pull the exhausted speedster into an embrace.

“I’m really sorry Bart, but I need you to help me. I promise we can talk when this is all over, but I need you to run Raven and get her close to Trigon.”

“Sure.” Bart said not pulling away. He steadied his goggles and dashed over to her picking her up before she could even realise what was happening and Bart ran up Trigon’s side stopping to drop Raven directly on top of Trigon’s head.

She wasted no time in and crossed her arms in a circular motion around the new stone floating in front of her as she began casting.

Trigon didn’t even have time to realize what had happened until it was too late. The gem began sucking him in.

Bart stumbled and fell off his head as it warped into the stone.

Bart screamed as he fell and knew Raven couldn’t break her concentration to save him not that it mattered because moments later he was rescued by Jaime.

Bart breathed a sigh of relief when he saw the familiar face.

Jaime landed them safely. They all watched as Trigon was absorbed by the crystal only for Raven to attach it to her head before she collapsed from exhaustion and Jaime flew up to catch her as well before delivering her to the ground safely.

“Thanks.” she said quietly.

“No. Thank you. You helped bring Bart back.” he smiled.

“Actually, he did that all on his own. In fact, I’ve never seen someone care so much about someone that they were able to break free of possession.” she grinned back at Jaime.

“Really? Do you think that means he-” Jaime began only to stop talking when Raven nodded.

“Yes!” Jaime screamed throwing both of his arms into the air dropping Raven.

She managed to levitate just inches away from the ground before hitting it.

Jaime’s hands covered his mouth in shock, “Lo siento! I didn’t mean to drop you!” Jaime apologized sincerely.

“It’s okay.” she chuckled.

Jaime had never seen her laugh before. He wasn’t sure if she was capable of it. He had known her for a few weeks and it was apparent just how serious she was.

“Go talk to him.” she encouraged.


	5. The Talk

“Bart.” Jaime just hugged him again. He didn’t want to let Bart go.

“We need to talk.” Bart said seriously, “Can we go somewhere private?”

“Of course.” Jaime nodded, “Just a second.”

“Raven can you teleport us to El Paso please.” Jaime yelled out to her.

Her eyes glowed white for a moment and Bart and Jaime were teleported to a park near Jaime’s house. Jaime gestured at a park bench for Bart to sit on and sat beside him.

Jaime wasn’t expecting it but Bart began crying.

“Jaime. I did things. Terrible things. I killed people. And I couldn’t stop myself from doing it. I’ll never forget what I did.” Bart said trembling.

Jaime wrapped his arms around a broken Bart.

“I nearly killed you!” Bart’s sobs being so violent it almost stifled his wording to a point where it was recognizable.

“I know. I understand. I felt the same way on mode. I nearly killed you in that alleyway and it took me a long time to forgive myself for that. But you helped me do that. And I am going to help you.” Jaime promised.

“Why did you do it?” Jaime asked.

“I didn’t want you to feel like you were on mode again. That almost destroyed you.” Bart said making eye contact with him.

Jaime had guessed correctly. He hugged Bart tightly. He wanted to tell Bart how egregious he thought Bart’s self sacrifice was since Jaime would have rather suffered through it again than Bart but there was no way he could tell Bart off so he said the one thing he never thought he would say, “Thank you.”

Bart hugged him tighter in response.

It took some convincing, but Jaime managed to get Bianca to agree to letting Bart live with them full time while he recovered. Jaime knew it was imperative for Bart to get the support he needed.

It took months of intense therapy and having Jaime spend every night by his side to calm him down after the nightmares for Bart to return to normal. It was pretty messed up, but they were basically nightmare buddies.

Jaime heard a knock at his front door so he and Bart went to see who it was.

“Raven?” Jaime questioned.

“Sorry to show up unannounced, I wanted to check in with you two.” Raven said as she removed the cloak from her head to reveal her face, “And also thank you both, I couldn’t have defeated Trigon without your help.”

“It was nothing.” Bart smiled. She could notice Bart was almost back to normal but she wanted to help finish off his healing process.

She slowly placed her hands on Bart’s head and her hands glowed blue.

“I hope you don’t mind but I just used a healing spell on you. You should feel a lot better now.” she smiled ever so slightly.

“Thanks!” Bart smiled properly this time. There it was, that proper smile Jaime had been missing for at least 6 months now.

“Thank you.” Jaime said sincerely at Raven.

“Jaime, I know why you waited but you have no excuse now.” Raven stated raising a brow.

Jamie fidgeted nervously knowing she was referring to confessing his feelings to Bart. He had wanted to wait until Bart was in the best state of mind, and now he had to take a leap of faith.

“Alright, thanks Raven.” Jaime smiled.

“Wait. What are you waiting for?” Bart asked curiously eyeing Jaime and Raven look knowingly at one another, “Wait are you two together?” Bart asked slightly horrified.

“What? No!” Jaime instantly repulsed, “I mean Raven is cool and everything and she is an amazing person-” Jaime started rambling nervous until she shot him that classic

look of discontentment, “No offence?” Jaime tilted his head.

“None taken.” she said in her usually monotone voice.

“Raven and I are just friends.” Jaime concluded.

“I don’t have anything to be worried about do I?” Bart nudged him jokingly. That was the first time Bart had cracked a joke. He truly was back. Whatever Raven had done worked. “I am your best friend remember?” Bart leered.

“Don’t worry, she isn’t my new best friend. We just became friends while you were away, turns out we have more in common than we realized.” Jaime shrugged.

“Bart if you need anything, I am happy to help. I better go.” Raven stated waving her cape over herself disappearing behind it before the cape itself vanished into thin air.

“Thank you!” Bart called out after her unsure if she caught any of it.

“She seems nice.” Bart grinned.

Jaime chuckled at the thought of how she would react to that interpretation of her.

“Come on ese.” Jaime urged as he closed the door and took Bart by the hand leading him up to his room.

Bart looked at Jaime as if he had hit his head as he grabbed his hand. He certainly wasn’t going to pull away but it was definitely weird for Jaime to hold his hand. Even with Bart’s level of touchiness, he didn’t feel brave enough to hold Jaime’s hand.

Jaime made Bart sit on his bed and he sad beside him.

“Bart. I need to tell you something.” Jaime said.

“Are you kicking me out? Oh god, I knew I had overstayed my welcome! I am so sorry! That was so not crash of me I-”

“Bart!” Jaime cut through his rambling.

“What?” Bart asked looking worried.

“It’s actually good news.” Jaime smiled, “Well… at least I hope it is.” Jaime chuckled.

Bart smiled back.

Jaime put his hand on Bart’s leg. He was nervous he felt goosebumps crawl up his legs and arms.

Bart blushed. He looked pretty confused too.

“I uhh… I love you.” Jaime shrugged in explanation.

“Really?” Bart practically shrieked with a giant smile on his face.

“Yes.” Jaime laughed.

Bart jumped on to him to kiss him before even responding himself. Jaime smiled into the kiss knowing that Bart felt the same way. Raven was right.

When Bart pulled away he started talking really quickly, “Oh my god I love you too this is so crash and amazing and I don’t know who tell first maybe my family yeh my family and then we can tell your family and then the team and then-” Bart managed to get out before a finger was pressed against his lips.

“Calm down mi amor!” Jaime smiled.

“I’m sorry, I can’t help it this is just so crash!” Bart practically laughed as his arms shot out to gesture at how grand in scale the level of ‘crashness’ he was talking about.

“Thanks Jaime.” Bart said hugging his new boyfriend.

“For what?” Jaime asked.

“For looking after me. I couldn’t have gotten through all those nightmares without you.” Bart confessed.

“You did it for me, I was merely returning the favor.” Jaime smiled, “I am hoping now that Raven’s used a healing spell on you that you won’t have nightmares anymore.”

“I won’t be sleeping anyway.” Bart grinned.

It took a moment for Jaime to catch on to what Bart meant. His eyelids thinned to shoot Bart a look of chagrin to accompany his grin and blush.

“I won’t have nightmares anymore, more like dreams. Sexy dreams!” Bart waggled his eyebrows.

“Dios mio what have I done.” Jaime joked.

Bart gasped in offence, “That is not a good way to start off our relationship mi novio!”

Jaime raised his eyebrows impressed with Bart’s use of Spanish, “Lo siento. Let me make it up to you.” Jaime said leaning into kiss his speedster again. Jaime pushed Bart down on to the mattress and heard his mother clear his throat.

“I take it Bart isn’t going anywhere anytime soon.” Bianca said with her arms crossed but a grin on her face.

Jaime broke it off to look at his mother standing in his doorway. His face was wiped with horror and embarrassment.

Bart erupted in laughter underneath him.

Jaime shot Bart an annoyed look. Jaime grabbed the duvet beside them and pulled it over his head which only made Bart laugh harder.

“Welcome to the family Bart.” Bianca said as she closed the door and left.

“Thanks Mrs Reyes!” Bart called out after her.

Bart went digging under the duvet until he found Jaime.

“Aww sorry she caught us…” Bart soothed rubbing his hand on circles on Jaime’s back.

“I never imagined she’d find out like that.” he groaned with embarrassment.

“Well there’s nothing you can do to undo it now, you have to move on and I can help you with that.” Bart grinned before kissing Jaime again. Jaime allowed himself to forget his troubles and melt into Bart instead.


End file.
